Seminar in International Economics: Missing tariffs -Errors in tariff data and their impact on trade policy studies
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The Competence Centre for International Economics Research (FIW) kindly invites to participate in the Seminar in International Economics on the topic
Missing tariffs -Errors in tariff data and their impact on trade policy studies
Speaker: Fedora Teti, PhD (LMU & ifo Institute)
Venue: This is an online event – please register here
Join Fedora Teti as she explores how misreported tariff data impacts trade policy studies and introduces selection bias.
Many studies use tariff data to measure changes in trade policy. This paper reveals significant errors in one of the standard sources for tariff rates, the World Integrated Trade Solution (WITS), due to incomplete reporting—resulting in measurement errors from false interpolation—and selection bias from dropping tariff rates when no trade is recorded. A new interpolation algorithm is proposed to account for misreporting, and the resulting global tariff dataset is used to demonstrate the practical relevance of missing tariffs by replicating recent studies that rely on WITS data. The findings show that studies leveraging cross-country tariff variation, such as estimates of trade elasticity, are particularly sensitive to the mishandling of tariff data.
This event is co-organised with the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (wiiw) and the Research Centre International Economics (FIW). The seminar provides a forum for presentation and discussion of recent academic research in the field of international economics.
This event will be recorded.
